Deep Freeze Spurs Worker Alert

With the “Polar Vortex” clamping killer cold on much of the United States, safety advocates are issuing warnings and resources to protect those who work outside.

"...[W]hile many construction sites will shut down, with new technologies—like chemical additives that allow concrete to cure in low temperatures—cold weather no longer puts the construction industry in a deep freeze," Pete Stafford, executive director of CPWR: The Center for Construction Research and Training, wrote in an advisory issued Tuesday (Jan. 7).

City of Cincinnati

A heating system was installed Saturday (Jan. 4) in Cincinnati to keep the light-rail trackbed warm enough to pour concrete in the morning. The system is made of tubes carrying heated antifreeze, covered by blankets overnight. The same tubes were then placed back on the concrete to keep it warm while it cured. Still, construction was suspended for the workweek until temperatures rose.

"That means a lot of workers are exposed to extreme weather."

Stafford adds: "Extended exposure to freezing or cold temperatures can result in health problems such as trench foot, frostbite and hypothermia."

'You Don't Gain Anything'

Much of the United States was expected to see record-breaking cold on Tuesday, with temperatures near or below zero over much of the eastern half of the country.

That was enough to put many projects on ice nationwide, even in normally cold climates where workers are both hardy and prepared for winter's worst. The Minnesota Department of Transportation suspended outdoor work on several projects, in deference to both crews and equipment.

“You don’t gain anything by working outside in these temperatures,” Dave Semerad, CEO of the Associated General Contractors of Minnesota, told Finance & Commerce.

“You put your employees and your equipment at risk, and your productivity decreases to a level where it doesn’t make good sense.”

Cold Dangers

At 0° F (-17.8° C), any exposed flesh can freeze within one minute, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration notes.

CPWR

Exposed flesh can freeze in one minute when the temperature hits 0° F, OSHA advises. But hypothermia can be a risk even at 40°F for workers who are wet or unprepared.

"When the body is unable to warm itself, serious cold-related illnesses and injuries may occur, and permanent tissue damage and death may result," OSHA reports in its Cold Stress Card, available in English or Spanish, one of the free resources the agency offers to protect workers in cold environments.

OSHA also offers a Cold Stress Guide with emergency preparedness advice for workers in cold environments.

The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also offers detailed Cold Stress resources and guides on its website.

Physical impairment isn't the only risk. Judgment, reaction time and concentration can all be compromised by extreme cold, experts note.

How Cold is Too Cold?

The dangers of cold exposure vary with the individual, the working conditions, medications and even the normal climate, experts say. In some cases, a worker in a warm-weather climate may be less prepared for—and more affected by—mild cold than a cold-weather worker is by extreme cold.

weather.com

Much of the U.S. was in the grip of record-breaking cold on Tuesday.

Hypothermia can occur even at cool temperatures (above 40°F), if a person becomes chilled from rain, sweat, or submersion in cold water.

Workers working near water are at particular risk of immersion hypothermia, which can occur in any water temperature below 70°F. Immersion hypothermia develops much more quickly than standard hypothermia because water conducts heat away from the body 25 times faster than air, according to NIOSH.

Cold exposure is a serious concern... but those of us who deal with seriously cold weather every winter can't help but but chuckle a little. From as early as mid-October until well into April, cold temperatures (-20C though to -40C, or colder, before windchill...the tyoe of stuff making headlines right now in eastern Canada and the US) are a fact of life where I live and work. If you're not used to it, it can be a brutal lesson to learn, and that's a granted; but still, those of us who have to deal with it regularly are a little dismayed by how unprepared folks impacted by the "polar vortex" seem to be.